


Wisconsin Haunting

by ryancallaghan



Category: Ghost Adventures RPF
Genre: Dark, Multi, Paranormal, Paranormal Investigators, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-27
Updated: 2015-05-23
Packaged: 2018-03-09 06:12:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3239273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryancallaghan/pseuds/ryancallaghan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's about high-time the boys investigate something in Wisconsin. [Being Re-Written]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. You're Marshall?

**Author's Note:**

> Please note, that the apartment complex used for in Cudahy does exist and it's still in business, people still live there, and there have been no reports or accounts for any paranormal activity. I just saw it one day and thought it looked haunted, so I'm making my own stuff up. On that note, if and when I use any business in the state of Wisconsin, that is still in business, that may or may not be haunted, this is just a forewarning, I'm just using the building and the haunting's, if there is any. Any names mentioned in these buildings, living or dead, are made up.

Nick sighed, tagging a part of their video feed where they thought they caught an anomaly, turned out to just be a bug. Lately, almost all of their investigations have been falling dead and they're not getting any good or credible action. At the rate they're going, they might have to find side jobs before things pick up again. 

"Hey Nick, how's the video analysis going?" Aaron asked from his spot across the room from him, reviewing his half of the video feed. 

"Not good, already debunked more than half of it as dust or bugs, you?" Nick spun around in his chair to look at Aaron better. 

"Pretty much the same, nothing good," He sighed heavily, pausing the playback before rubbing his face. 

“Hey, guys,” Zak piped up from his desk next to their office door. “Have we ever been to Wisconsin before, like for an investigation?” Aaron and Nick shared a look before shaking their heads at him. “Well, I think we got a place for our next location.”

“Really? Where?” Nick asked as he stood up to go over to Zak’s desk, Aaron wheeling himself over in his chair.

“Cudahy, Wisconsin. South Milwaukee. Something about an apartment complex that was abandoned in the 80s. Doesn’t say when the apartment was built but just from the look of it, you can tell it’s haunted. Look at this place,” Zak maximized the picture he was looking at for the others and they both whistled slowly, taking in the tall building; it definitely had that creepy vibe to it. All of them were wondering what sort of evil lurked within it’s walls.

“Let’s do it,” Nick announced, clapping his hands excitedly.

“I’ll call it in, you guys get the stuff ready,” Zak called out as he jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room with his phone in hand.

"Looks like we're headed to the land of the cheese! Woo-hoo!" Aaron exclaimed as he tossed his hands in the air and slapped Nick on the shoulder. Nick just laughed at him, taking one last look at the building before turning to help pack up the equipment. 

Zak came back about half an hour later to tell them they have a flight the next day for 10am to Milwaukee and that they have arranged for a local investigator to assist them.

“Local investigator?” Nick asked as he packed away one of their x-cameras. Zak just shrugged.

“Whoever they are, I hope they know some priests ‘cause that building looks like it has some evil shit in it,” Aaron threw in his own two cents as he tossed some extra batteries in his bag.  
“Mary just said their name was Marshall, so I dunno if she meant first name or last name,” Zak explained as he zipped up his backpack.

“Looks like we’ll just have to find out and see. How far is Cudahy from the airport?” Nick questioned, stacking some of their plastic tubs.

“Not far, not even half an hour,” Zak answered as he grabbed a few more bags and headed out the door to toss them in their van. “South Milwaukee, bro!” Nick rolled his eyes as he, too, grabbed some tubs and followed Zak. Together, they spent the rest of the day packing up the van while Aaron consulted with their producer on flights and hotel arrangements. 

“Hey guys, they want us to spend a couple weeks in Wisconsin to check out the other locations,” Aaron informed them as they locked up the van. “Said that that local investigator will be our tour guide and shit.” Nick and Zak just looked at each other and shrugged, agreeing to the company’s wishes. “Our flight’s for ten-thirty a.m. tomorrow,” They all mock-saluted each other before walking to their cars, hoping to get an early night’s sleep for their plane ride. 

After a rather restless night sleep, the boys climbed aboard the plane with their take-away cups of coffee they picked up on the way; they were all too excited for the lockdown and even more excited to be going to the one state they haven’t visited yet. 

"Did Mary give us anymore info on our tour guide?" Zak asked after the plane had taken off. 

"Nope, just that their name is Marshall and that they'll be waiting for us when we land with our van," Aaron replied, messing around on his phone. Zak nodded and checked his email, informing the guys about their next location next month. 

"Ya know, we could've driven here, it's not that far," Nick pondered. 

"Have any of us been to Wisconsin, for business or pleasure?" Zak asked; all three of them shook their heads. "We would've gotten lost and we all know it." Nick sighed, knowing that Zak was right, even though he wouldn't admit it out loud. 

"Is Billy joining us on this one?" Aaron asked, looking up from his phone; Zak could just make out the layout for the twitter app on his screen. 

Zak nodded, "He had something to take care of first but he's flying out tomorrow morning," the two nodded absentmindedly, already busy with their own thing to cure their boredom. Zak just got comfortable in his seat and plugged his ear buds in, turned up his music and prayed to catch a nap before they land. 

After a few short hours, Aaron was shaking him awake just before they landed - Zak, being half-asleep and bleary eyed, just held on to Nick’s jacket as they disembarked. He was a little bit more awake once they got to the luggage belt but he needed to find a coffee shop first, if they still have to find their ‘tour guide’.

“Aaron, do you see a coffee joint anywhere?” He asked, voice still rough from his nap, as he rubbed his eyes to get his contacts in focus again.

“Yeah, I saw a Starbucks over there, I was going to head over there once we got our bags. Usual?” He just nodded at Aaron, making a tired ‘shoo’ing motion that always gets him to laugh. Too tired to move, Zak just sat on his luggage on the sidelines with Nick standing next to him, scanning the airport to see if they missed their ‘tour guide’.

“Think they might be outside with the van, dude,” He suggested, shrugging when Zak gave him a look. “You see how crowded it is in here? I would’ve waited outside, too,” 

Zak sighed tiredly, yanking the earbud out of his ear once he saw how close to being dead his phone was, “Yeah, I guess. They could’ve-” He was cut off by the overhead speaker, a slightly terrified male voice coming over that had Nick give Zak a weird look.

“GAC, your party is waiting for you out front,” The words echoed around the airport, making them look around worriedly, praying that it didn’t cause anyone to freak out. Thankfully, the flight go-ers just gave them weird looks as they passed, not really caring that they’re looking at show hosts.

“I told you,” Nick was so smug, that if Zak wasn’t so tired, he would’ve hit him. Aaron finally showed up with three, large coffees and gave them to their respectful owners, Zak sighed in contentment this time, as the rich, dark liquid perked him up as soon as he took a sip.

“I didn’t know airports announce when your ride arrives,” Aaron wondered, his head cocked to the side as he tried to think back when they took a cab to a hotel because Billy was driving the van up.

“They don’t. Well, at least, I don’t think they do,” Nick shrugged again, draining half his cup in a few gulps, not really caring that it was still too hot to drink normally - he needed a caffeine boost to get through the rest of the day.

“Let’s go, better not waste anymore time sitting around here,” They all nodded and finished off their coffees, grabbing their bags and headed for the door, not really prepared for the slight chill that welcomed them when they stepped out.

“Jesus, this just reminded me why I don’t like the mid-west, too cold,” Zak complained, dropping his bag to find a sweater and yanked it over his head, drawing the hood up to cover his ears. Nick and Aaron just shook their heads at each other, grinning, while they watched Zak freak out. Aaron scanned the parking lot, noticing their van right away but the sight of a person sitting on the hood, smoking, threw him for a loop.

“Found our van and, I think, our tour guide,” He announced, nodding in the general direction when the other two turned to look at him. Nick’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline and Zak just huffed.

"Please tell me this isn't our tour guide," he muttered to himself as they started over; Aaron heard him though and shot a look to Nick, who made a smoking motion, which he just rolled his eyes at.

They were well within earshot of the person on their van and they could all tell it was a female and not a male, let they were all guessing. From what Nick could tell, she had dark hair and was on the thin side, dressed like they were - all black - and sort of tan, more of an olive tone than tanned, really.

“Are you Marshall?” Zak asked, secretly hoping that the actual Marshall was just inside, using the bathroom or getting something to eat. Something about this girl just made him uncomfortable, like he wasn’t suppose to be around her; he felt unwelcomed. 

The girl’s head looked up from her tablet and all of them felt floored at the amber, almost caramel, colored eyes that felt like they pierced your soul.

“Hello Zak, Nick, and Aaron, welcome to Wisconsin,” She replied, dismissing Zak’s question all together as she hopped down from the hood, stomping out her cigarette as well. None of them were really surprised when her voice was sort of raspy but they all felt a twinge of something at how deep it was.

“Thank you,” Nick spoke up, nodding in gratitude to her when she turned to him. He felt a shiver go down his spine when he looked into her eyes, like someone just trailed their fingers down his back. Nick had noticed he felt an uncomfortable sensation around her but he couldn’t really put his finger on it; he knew that Zak also felt it, judging by the way he’s almost glaring at the girl, like she personally offending him - yet, Aaron looked like he was affected by it at all. Whatever this was, it was connected to the girl and it definitely caught his interest. 

“Let’s get going, who’s driving?” She asked, digging around in her jacket for their keys. Nick held his hand out, instinctively, and smiled at her as she tossed them. He unlocked the van and tossed his bags in the back with all their other stuff, throwing Aaron’s in there as well. He’d let Zak throw his own things in as he slid into the driver’s seat, rearranging a few things to his liking and waited for the others. 

“Are we waiting for someone else?” Zak asked as he got comfortable in the front passenger seat, looking behind him as Aaron and the girl got themselves situation in the first backseat.  


“Nope. Hey Nick, can you go to the little bakery on sixth street? Chevy’s Pastries is the name, it’s on the left,” She asked, leaning forward a bit in between the two front seats, so Nick would hear her better.

“You got it,” He gave her a thumbs up and he got a quiet ‘thank you’, along with a smile. It was a tense silence for the first few minutes of the drive, almost everyone could feel the tension - expect the girl. Who they still don’t know the name of.

“So, you know our names but we don’t know your’s,” Aaron said, softly and hesitantly, like he was poking a sleeping dragon. The girl laughed and smacked her forehead, making the guys smile a little at the action.

“Oh geez, I’m sorry, such a rude host. Siobhan Marshall, at your service,” Siobhan grinned, acting like she didn’t know what the guys were frowning about but she knew, she organized the whole thing with their secretary. 

Hearing and knowing that this girl was ‘Marshall’, their supposed tour guide and guest investigator, had a different effect on each of the guys. For Aaron, he was beyond excited, already telling her about their gear and asking about her experiences at some of the locations they’ll be going to. Nick, well, he was just as excited as Aaron but also a bit apprehensive, that weird feeling from earlier nudging at his conscious.

For Zak, he felt like someone just told him he had a month left to live. He had to find out why he kept getting this unwelcomed feeling from her, otherwise she was going to ruin this whole investigation.


	2. Dark Entities and Psychic Readings

Siobhan figured that they would be a little upset about her little trickery but she really didn’t think that they’d give her the cold shoulder. Well, Aaron was warming up to her, making nice conversation, and Nick had thrown in his own two cents once in a while. But Zak absolutely refused to even look at her. She would’ve been offending if it wasn’t for the half a dozen of red eyes glaring at her from his side of the van.

Figuring she’d either have to take care of them or give them the ultramotive of going with a different investigator - one that they’d have to wait for to come back to town, as she was currently in Florida investigating the Riddle House. 

It wasn’t until they pulled into the parking lot of her bakery, that she broke the tense silence, leaning in between the two front seats again, “Listen, I know y’all were expecting a man, that was the point of my whole joke, but if you’re gonna take this childishly, tell me now so I can pass you off to another investigator. I won’t tolerate working with people who throw tantrums,” She spat, glaring at Zak when he sneered down at her. 

Darting away from Zak and his many attachments, she flung open the sliding passenger door and speed walked inside her bakery, immediately taking a deep breath of the coffee and baked goods. Instantly, her mood brightened, the smell of the coffee and the cleansing charms she put around the entry always made her feel better. 

Walking towards the counter, she smiled at her cousin, muttering to her in Gaelic, “I will take over, Selene.” She smiled at Siobhan and passed over the small apron, rubbing her back as she went back to the kitchen. Selene had been with her since she opened the bakery, wanting to spend more time with her favorite cousin - and practically only living relative left. She may have been in the US for a few good years but she never learned how to speak English; Selene could understand someone just fine but speaking it was a whole different matter. 

Knowing that Aaron would be the first one to step inside, she got a plate of cherry pie ready for him at the bar and was in the middle of making his coffee when he finally came in.

“That pie is for you,” She called out, throwing her voice over her shoulder as she finished his coffee. Turning to him, Siobhan flashed him a smile and handed him the coffee as he sat with a dazed look, before glancing at her. “I knew you were coming in,” She motioned for him to take a drink, grinning widely when he took a tentative sip and watched as the shock overtook his expression - she just winked at him when he just stared at her gobsmacked.

“You are a goddess,” He finally choked out as he took a big gulp of his coffee; he wasn’t sure how she knew how he liked his coffee but he wasn’t going to question it, wasting no time at all in diving into the pie that was still in front of him. Siobhan just chuckled, shaking her head fondly at him, as she turned to make Nick and Zak’s plate of desserts.

Back in the van, Nick was questioning why Zak was being so cold towards Siobhan, “What’s up with you, man? Talk to me,” He nudged his friend when he still refused to speak. 

Zak sighed and rubbed his face, tiredly, “It’s not that I don’t like her or anything, she seems like a nice girl, if you look past the smoking.” Nick rolled his eyes. “It’s just - I feel so uncomfortable around her, like I’m not welcomed or something. It’s weird and I don’t know what it is but I don’t like it and if it’s going to continue, I can’t be around her. It’s gonna screw up the whole investigation if I can’t even be in the same room as her.” He threw his head back against the head-rest once he was done, thoroughly exhausted. It hasn’t even been a day in Wisconsin and he already wants to go home. Maybe it was the weather that was effecting his mood, he tried to convince himself as he glared up at the gray-ish clouds.

“So, that’s what I was feeling earlier,” Nick whispered to himself, not really noticing that he spoke out loud until he saw Zak staring at him from the corner of his eye. He backed up into the driver door when he saw the almost wild look in his friend’s eyes, wondering if he was okay and slightly frightening by whatever he was thinking.

“You mean to tell me you’ve been feeling whatever I’ve been feeling, too?!” Nick jumped slightly at Zak’s sudden exclamation, now very worried for him.

“Only for a brief second when we first met her. Dude, what’s the matter with you?” Zak didn’t bother answering him, just jumped out of the van and went straight into the bakery, Nick scrambling after him as he tried to catch up.

“Mister Bagans! You think you can just storm in here like you have hellhounds on your heels, with your mind all made up and ready to tell me to hit the road, without even hearing my side of the story first?” Siobhan shouted from behind the counter, not even bothering to throw out her voice like she did before with Aaron, as she had her back turned to them, making something. There were two plates on either side of Aaron, one with brownies, the other with cookies; Nick stood just behind Zak, nervously shifting on his feet and kept glancing back and forth between the treats and his friend.

“No. Aaron, finish eating, we’re leaving in a few minutes. We’re catching the first flight out to New Jersey,” Zak announced, his tone cold, harsh, and dismissive - something neither Nick nor Aaron have heard from him before - as he turned to leave again, a desperate need to get out of the bakery. He didn’t even notice it at first, only had a one-track mind when he came in but now that it was out in the open, Zak finally acknowledged the almost panic like feeling that he had to get out of the warm shop.

“Zachary Bagans, you sit your ass down here, right now,” She snapped, setting down a mug by each of the unoccupied plates more harshly than she intended. She didn’t even need to tell Nick to sit down, he went to the one with the cookies like a scolded child, having a brief flashback to when his own mother lectured him after he fell out a tree. Nick knew, without a doubt, that Siobhan would make a great mom someday. 

When Zak still didn’t move, she smacked her dish towel against the counter and shouted, “Now!” with such power behind her voice, the hairs on their arms stood up as a static charge swept throughout the room. All three of them jumped and Zak practically sprinted to the only seat open next to Aaron, Nick watched Siobhan warily while Aaron just played with his pie, keeping his head down. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself, took a big gulp from her mug hiding underneath the counter, and cleared her throat.

“Alright, now you’re going to listen to me, and listen well, because I am not going to repeat myself,” She was firm but gentle; yup, Nick thought, she was definitely going to be a great mom.

“Yes, I am the reason you two have been feeling uncomfortable,” Her hand snapped up when Zak started opening his mouth, which shut with a click when she turned to glare at him. “Do not interrupt me.” He nodded solemnly when she continued to stare at him.

Clearing her throat, again, she sent one more look to Zak before starting, “As I was saying, the reason you’re feeling unwelcomed is because of your attachments.” They were waiting for her to speak again but when she just stared at them, they turned to each other, their expressions ranging from bemused to slight amusement, thinking she was playing a joke on them. Seeing her serious face, devoid of practically all emotion, they finally realized that she wasn’t kidding around.

“What?” Nick croaked, staring at her in slight horror. He knew he had attachments but he just figured they were just trying to be heard, to get their story out there.

“Your attachments know that I have ways of getting rid of them, so they’re sending you uncomfortable feelings to get you away from me,” She explained, nonchalantly, wiping down the counter, as if it was an everyday occurrence. They were starting to wonder if it was. 

“How do you know?” Aaron finally piped up, taking a sip of his coffee with a quiet moan of contentment; Zak and Nick just gave him odd looks while Siobhan smiled gleeful. She was happy that at least one of them felt comfortable around her and was appreciating her offering. Nick, realizing that he had a plate full of chocolate chip cookies in front of him, along with a cooling mug of coffee, he immediately dove into it. He had to stop himself from making, what would’ve been, an embarrassing and highly sexual noise, as the cookie melted in his mouth. 

“I can sense them, lingering around you like storm clouds,” She said, mostly to Zak. “Nick, your’s left as soon as you walked in here, but Zak’s...he has a few more than I was expecting and they’re stronger, they’re gonna need more than just a cleansing charm on an entryway,” None of them knew how to react to what she was telling them. 

"Are you a medium or something?" Nick asked, running his tongue along his back teeth to dislodge a piece of cookie. 

Siobhan shrugged, pouring herself more coffee, "Yeah, you could say that; psychic, medium, Irish witch with a few extra abilities, whatever you want to call me, I don't have a preference. Just don't ask my nan about it, she'll go on and on about me taking the family title of witch, that I want nothing to do with. Another story for another time." 

All of them sat in silence to digest what she just revealed to them, while she went to take care of some customers that came in. Zak had finally started on his brownies and ice cold coffee, lost in his thoughts on how to proceed. 

"Ya think she's telling the truth?" He murmured to Aaron, sipping his coffee thoughtfully. 

Aaron drained the last of his coffee before nodding, "I have no reason to not believe her, ya know? She knew how I liked my coffee, dude, or have you not noticed that?" Zak gave him a weird look and glanced into his mug, taking note that it was a light cream color, and withholding a swallow of it, he could tell it was French Vanilla creamer - a creamer he always used when at home. 

"I got an Irish coffee," Nick threw in from the other side of Aaron. Both Zak and Aaron raised their eyebrows at that - they hadn't even know that Nick liked Irish coffee until it was the only thing he would order if the cafe had it. 

"Would you like a free reading?" All three of them jumped and spun around, only to find Siobhan standing behind them, grinning widely. She had her jacket on again, a dark red leather, her keys in one hand and a can of Monster in the other, a camo baseball hat on her head.

"Jesus christ, girl, don't do that!" Aaron shouted, a hand clutching his chest as he tried to calm his heart. Siobhan snorted, lifting the can to take a drink before motioning for them to follow her outside, shaking her head when Zak tried to leave money on the counter.

“It’s on the house, c’mon,” She gave them no choice but to follow her, already heading out the door before any of them could protest; Nick just shrugged at the other two and was the first to head out, Aaron and Zak following shortly after. 

Nick waved them over to an all black truck, Siobhan sitting on the front bumper, draining the last of her drink. 

"You know those are bad for you," Zak commented as he and Aaron strolled towards them. She just raised an eyebrow at him, choosing not to respond as she tore the tab off and jabbed it into her pocket, setting the empty can down by her feet.

"Siobhan said that it'd be easier to do the reading out here - less distracting," Nick said, trying to hide the fact that he was a little more than excited. He didn't know what was in store for him or for the others but he was starting to trust Siobhan and he wanted to see what she could do. 

She nodded, beckoning Aaron to come forward, "I'll start with Aaron, then Nick, and we'll see about Zak - I'll try but I might not get a clear reading because of the attachments," 

"Why's that?"

"They can manipulate my reading, make it hazy or just inaccurate,"

"Again, why?"

"'Cause whatever I tell you, you're gonna assume it's true, when 89 percent of the time it's not, and you'll be obsessed with it, you'll end up making it happen - which they want. Now, shush,” She hissed, giving Zak a glare before closing her eyes, taking a few, calming, deep breathes as Aaron stood in front of her awkwardly; still with her eyes closed, she held out her hands, palms facing the sky, indicated that she was ready for Aaron to proceed. 

Hesitantly, he gently took a hold of her hands, still unsure on how to do whatever it is she wanted him to do.

“Relax, Aaron, I can feel your anxiety. You’re doing fine,” Siobhan reassured him, her voice barely a whisper, all her concentration focused on navigating her way through the imagines she was receiving from him. She was getting rapid images of a younger Aaron and Nick, talking in class, college? A brief scene of all three of them meeting and starting the crew, many scenes of a happy marriage - a few imagines Siobhan really did not need to see of Aaron and his wife. All the places and investigations the boys have gone on so far, up until this point. It was looking good for him, so far, save for the few instances of depression and anger.

But one scene at the end might make or break Aaron and she really didn’t want to tell him, just incase it was a manifestation of any left over energy from his dark attachment; a once happy marriage, ended in a mutual divorce because of a very dark place. Slowly, she released his hands and opened her eyes, letting her eyes refocus before looking up at Aaron, giving him a small smile.

“Your wife is very beautiful,” Her voice was still quiet but more than a whisper, keeping it just between the two of them. The happy, practically blinding smile he gave her, made her heart hurt, knowing that in, maybe a few months or a few years, time - something would happen to take that smile away for a bit. Although, even Siobhan isn’t 100% sure it was true, he would pull through, she had confidence that he would - with the help of his friends and a positive outlook on life, she was sure he could do anything he put his mind to.

Aaron thanked her quietly and stepped back, pushing Nick toward her with a wicked grin. He wanted to know if he'll get new blackmail material; Nick sent Aaron a half-hearted glare as he stumbled in front of Siobhan. He waited patiently, watching as she took a few, cleansing breaths and slipped his hands into hers when she held them out. Nick closed his eyes as well and did a couple deep breaths, clearing his mind and centered his emotions. 

Siobhan could tell he was trying to center himself, find his grounding, while she was trying to get something from him - which she greatly appreciated, it made everything easier for her and his reading would be clearer, more in depth and accurate. 

She got brief glances of him as a child, falling out of a tree and his experiences after that, how he met his wife and everything they’ve went through - again, something she really did not need to see that side of Nick. Though, it gave her free material for erotic fantasies later, she really wished she had more control over what she received during readings.

There was one imagine, a snapshot, that made her want to cry of happiness: it was Nick and his wife but they had a daughter between them, a perfect mixture of the two. She didn’t know the childs name but there was a strong ‘A’ feeling. Ashley? Ariel? No…it felt like a combination.

“Anna,” She whispered, lovingly, knowing that she was getting one-half of a name of Nick’s future daughter. She could tell the little girl would be a charmer.

“What?” Siobhan almost lost her concentration, not realizing that she had spoken out loud. Dammit, now she’s gonna have to tell him, whether she liked it or not; although she wasn’t getting any ill-feeling with this snapshot, she still didn’t know if it was the work of the dark entity that was attached to Nick and it could ruin everything.

“I’m getting a name, feels like an Anna,” She ground out, forcing herself to speak against her own judgement; she could feel Nick’s confusion and she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

“I don’t know any Anna’s,” 

“Shh, yes, I know, I’m not finished. There’s another name after Anna, like a combination name, but it’s fuzzy, not decided yet,” She finished, letting go of his hands and refocusing her eyes again, seeing Nick’s confused expression for the first time and couldn’t help the snort that came out. “Relax Nick, you’ll find out in due time and you’ll understand.” She gave him a wide smile and a pat on the cheek, pushing him backwards a few steps.

“What aren’t you telling me?” He sounded hurt, like she was purposely keeping something important from him - which, technically, she was. 

“No one’s gonna die, if that’s what you’re asking. It’s just, it’s something you can’t know, right now, because it’ll affect the outcome - it might come too early, too late, or not at all, and I really don’t want to see that happen to you. It also might be the work of the dark entity that was attached to you. Any leftover energy from that could manipulate my readings, so if what I saw was a trick, I told you all of it, and it turns out to be not real, who are you going to blame in a moment of grief? Me or the thing that was feeding off your emotions?” 

They all stood in tense silence after Siobhan was done ranting, the guys shifting their glances from each other, to the ground, then to her in a weird, synchronized dance. None of them knew how to deal with this sort of thing - meeting someone who could potentially see what’s going to happen to them, then not knowing if it’s true or not because of the things they do. It’s almost like Fate was toying with their emotions. 

Siobhan could see the conflict in their faces and wanted to smack all of them. Did they really think this was a real reading? It was just a test, to see what she needed for the cleansing, to see what she was dealing with.

“You guys do realize that this was just a test reading, right?” All three heads snapped towards her when she talked before looking at each other again, bemused.

“We thought this was a real reading,” Zak spoke up, suspicion and slight hesitation in his voice as he stared at her. Siobhan closed her eyes and fought to not face-palm in front of them.

“No, for a real reading, I have to do a ritual or a seance, to invoke the positive energy and get accurate readings. I’d have to do more than just holding your hands and looking past everything you’ve done in life,” She was beginning to lose patience as she could feel the sun starting to go down, it would have to be almost five p.m. and she still had things to do before getting into their investigations.

“Okay, so, when do we do this ‘seance’?” Zak was still pushing her buttons and if she didn’t know that it was the work of the red eyes surrounding him, she would’ve punched him in the face.

“After y’all’s cleansing ritual because, right now, there’s about a dozen or so red eyes around Zak, Nick’s has one - probably from earlier, the charms wore off - and Aaron has a very faded pair of eyes. I’m getting the feeling they’ve all come from the same place as well, like a building?” Siobhan furrowed her eyebrows as she stared at the floating eyes, trying to get a reading on them. Some place with music, lots of people were dancing, past satanic worship - that, she was sure about. Not getting a name for the building, she focused on the location, which the entities gave up pretty easily.

“Wilder, Kentucky,” She watched as their faces fell and turn a ghostly white, slightly terrified eyes taking each other in, like they’re were trying to see the red, floating eyes. Seeing their reaction to just the location, she knew that whatever this place was, it was not something to be messing around with. “We’ll do the cleansing ritual tonight, reading tomorrow after Billy lands. Y’all need to stop by my place anyways if you want to get the locations for your investigations.”

“How’d you know Billy’s coming here?” Aaron asked, mouth twisted in a confused sort of smile.

Siobhan smiled at him, “I booked his flight, duh.” It was silent for a bit before Nick snorted, making Aaron snort, and when Zak gave them a look, both just bursted into gut-wrenching laughter. Zak just rolled his eyes skywards while Siobhan couldn’t help a few chuckles.


	3. Cleansing and Lectures

Going through her stock of herbs, her Red wolf and German Shepherd mixed pup, Gunny, followed behind and in between her feet, almost making her trip several times. Given that he was only five months old, she couldn’t stay mad at him; however, her other dog, Chief, a Bernese Mountain dog, sat in the corner and just watched the pup. Siobhan rolled her eyes, ignoring both of them for now while she made three little cloth bags for an Imbolc cleansing bath - or shower, if they don’t want to sit in the tub for hours. 

She had told the boys to pick up something to eat, before they could start the ritual, while she went home for supplies; they would need all the energy they could get while she worked on them separately. Of course, on her way home, she picked up a few more cans of Monster and a couple bags of beef jerky. As she was the one doing most of the work, she’d need instant energy and didn’t have time to sit down for a meal - she’d do that after they were all taken care of and in a deep sleep for the night.

Packing all her supplies away, along with a couple notebooks, pens, her computer, plenty of candles and her snacks into her laptop backpack, she grabbed Gunny’s leash and kneeled in front of the pup, smiling at his grinning face and tongue hanging out the side of his mouth, his whole body moving with his wagging tail as she clipped the leash on his collar. 

Looping her end of the leash to her wrist, she swung her backpack on one shoulder and whistled for Chief as she headed for the door; hearing his heavy paws smack against the floor, she just stood to the side - making sure Gunny was behind her - and held open the door, laughing when Chief bolted right past her and skidded to a halt next to her truck.

Locking the door, she slowly went over to the side Chief was on, not giving in when Gunny started tugging on his leash, chuckling slightly at the annoyed whine both dogs gave her. Digging her keys out of her pocket, she hit the unlock button, waiting for Chief to open the back passenger door and jump inside before she let go of Gunny’s leash, letting him jump in the back after Chief. Tossing her backpack in the back with them, she shut the door and took a quick jog to the barn to check on her horses, making sure they had enough to eat and water to drink, before jogging back to the truck and hopping in the driver’s seat. 

“You boys ready for a little adventure?” muttering to her dogs in German, Siobhan guffawing loudly when they barked in response. Revving her truck up, Siobhan made the half hour trek back to Milwaukee and to the boy’s hotel, putting her music on to make the time pass a little faster. 

One of the reasons why she was bringing her dogs with her, was because she knew the manager of the hotel she set the boys up in and didn’t mind if she brought her dogs. The other reason was, they needed more training in the paranormal and she hadn’t had time to do that lately - Siobhan basically wanted to see if they’d take her dogs on the lockdown with them.

After a somewhat long half hour drive, she pulled into the hotel’s parking lot, Siobhan parked next to the guy’s van. Slipping out, she slung her pack on first before grabbing Gunny’s leash, whistling for Chief to hop out before locking the truck. Walking in, she waved to a few people who said hi to her and let a couple kids pet her dogs, all while scanning the lobby, looking for either the guys or her friend, Scott, and found neither. Frowning, she went further into the lobby, where the bar and dining room would be and, sure enough, all four of them were sitting at a table, laughing. 

Smirking, she knelt down next to Chief and pointed out their table, giving him the go ahead to tackle one of them. He barked softly at her and took off, full speed, towards their table, jumped on Aaron and brought them to the floor. Siobhan snorted, slapping a hand over her mouth to contain her laughter, while Chief slobbered all over Aaron. Scott found her standing off to the side and waved her over, not helping Zak and Nick try to get her dog off their friend.

“You could’ve called ahead next time,” Scott said, smirking at her. Siobhan scowled at him, whistling for Chief to come by her side, waving to the boys when they finally noticed her.

“And ruin my fun? Forget it,” She handed him Gunny’s leash, squatting to kiss her dogs bye for a bit. “I probably won’t be back ‘till after midnight, I’ll come get them when I’m done.” Scott waved them goodbye while he walked off with her dogs, probably to put them in his office for the time being. Turning to the guys, she noticed the white paper bag with a large, yellow ‘M’.

“Really? Out of all the food joints you can go to, you pick McDonalds?” She shook her head at them, her hands on her hips as they looked at each other before shrugging sheepishly. 

Siobhan sighed, “Remind me to take y’all some place with actual food tomorrow. Right now, we need to head upstairs and get this over with while the night is still young.” She helped clean up and followed them up to the fifth floor, where their rooms were. 

Stopping at Aaron’s room, she explained what she was doing, “Okay, I’m going to start with Aaron first, Nick is second, and Zak will be last. There’ll be a little herb bag that I will give you after the ritual is done, you can chose to take a bath with it or a shower, it doesn’t matter. I’ll give you further instructions later, when I’m with you. In the mean time, while I’m with Aaron, you two pick whatever music that helps you relax and get it set up in the bathroom. Got it?” They all nodded, agreeing with her terms, and the two went to their room further down the hallway while she motioned for Aaron to open his. 

“Is it alright if we film this?” He asked as they walk into his room, tossing his card key on the table with all his other stuff. 

“Nah, it’s fine. Gotta make my show debut sometime, right?” Siobhan joked, sliding her pack off to take out Aaron’s herb baggie, placing it on the vanity in the bathroom for later. She went around the room, turning some of the lights down and making sure the curtains were closed, going back in her pack for a few candles and placed them accordingly throughout the room, lighting them as she went. Once everything was as good as it was gonna get, she slid her shoes and jacket off, rolling up her sleeves to reveal her many tattoos. Aaron raised an intrigued eyebrow at that and tried to look closer, to see what they were, but it was too dark and the candlelight didn’t help.

“Alright, Aaron, if you’ll take a seat on the edge of the bed right here.” She patted the foot of the bed, her voice deepening and took on a soothing quality. Aaron tried to hide the shiver that went down his spine as he sat in his designated spot. 

“Okay, and now, just close your eyes and take deep breaths, focus on the sound of my voice, relax.” He did as he was told and tried to relax his body, staying in tune with her voice and the gentle pressure of her fingers on his temple. He actually had to fight to stay awake after a few minutes.

“Good, good, you’re doing great. I know you might be sleepy, you had a long day, but it’s almost over. I’m going to start praying now, just keep taking those deep breaths and relaxing.” She started out slow and gently, gradually picking up the tempo after every verse until she was practically booming with electricity and power, a small amount of white light emitting from her fingers.

_“Circle me, Lord.  
Keep protection near  
And danger afar.  
Circle me, Lord  
Keep hope within.  
Keep doubt without.  
Circle me, Lord.  
Keep light near  
And darkness afar.  
Circle me, Lord.  
Keep peace within.  
Keep evil out.”_

Aaron didn’t really understand what she was saying, since she was chanting in another language, but whatever she was doing, it was working. He began to feel lighter, felt more joyful, and there wasn’t any lingering dark thoughts that weren’t his.

“May my spirits, your spirits, and the good spirits of the unknown be in your good blessings. Blessed be.” Siobhan finished off by tracing the traditional Wiccan symbol of the three moons on his forehead. Aaron only opened his eyes once he realized she stepped back and was moving the candles to the bathroom.

“Now, it’s the second part. You can either choose to go with the bath or the shower, just make sure the cloth bag is underneath the flow of the water,” She called out to him, her voice echoing slightly in the bathroom. He got up to go in there when she skipped back out, flashing him a bright smile. “You can also choose if you want music or not, doesn’t matter. All you have to do is relax, imagine all the bad energy just seep out of your pores and go down the drain with the water. 

“Go for as long as you like, general time is half an hour, but you can go longer if you feel like you need it. Stay in that relaxed state and get ready for bed. No staying up to look at footage, or audios, or just surfing the net. You go straight to bed, am I clear?” The stern look she had on her face is what made him nod in agreement. “Good, now I don’t want to see you up until a decent time, okay? I’ll come wake you if it gets any later.” 

“Got it,” He muttered, watching her as she went around, putting her jacket and shoes back on, re-packed her bag, and set off to go to Nick’s room next. She waved to him before the door shut and he was left, standing in the middle of his room, all alone and somewhat confused. “She’s definitely something else.” Aaron chuckled to himself and got ready to take an herbal shower. 

Knocking on Nick’s door, Siobhan tried to ground herself a bit and find her center, her sense of balance, so that she’ll be at her peak to work on her next patient. 

Nick opened the door a smidge, so only one of his eyes showed, and whispered, “Howdy neighbor.” Siobhan snorted loudly, slapping a hand over her mouth for the second time tonight, and kicked his door lightly. He chuckled, grinning as he let her in, leaning on the door as he shut it and watched her set up the room. 

“Aaron tell you we’re filming this?” He asked, since she didn’t even comment on the camera set up in the corner. She looked up from lighting her candles and gave an a sour look.

“Of course and before you ask, no, I don’t mind that you do,” She made sure all the curtains were shut, the lights were turned down, before she patted the foot of the bed, indicating that she wanted Nick to sit there. Moving from the door, he didn’t see Siobhan slip her shoes and jacket off, rolling up her sleeves like she did before. 

When he finally did notice, he almost stopped everything to ask her about her arms. He couldn’t see that they were tattoos, because of the lighting, and not scars like he thought they were. But she didn’t stop for anything - once she started, there was no stopping, it had to flow like a river.

“Shh, you can ask questions tomorrow,” She went back into her soothing voice, hoping it’ll have the same effect on him like it did for Aaron; thankfully, it did and he stopped talking. “Now, close your eyes and take deep breaths, focus on my voice and try to relax.” She placed her fingertips against his temples as his eyes closed, her own slipping shut as she focused on the dark energy surrounding Nick. It didn’t take long to gather it and he was holding up longer than Aaron did - she could feel he was starting to slip though, barely.

Once she got a hold on it, she whispered, “You’re doing great, just keep breathing and stay relaxed. I’m going to start praying, just focus on my voice,” Like before, she started off gentle and soothing, gradually getting louder as she finished and started again, goosebumps broke out on Nick’s skin as she radiated power and he could see a weird light behind his eyelids, like he was laying out in the sun on a nice day. 

The light dimmed as she moved her fingers to his forehead, tracing something there as she muttered, “May my spirits, your spirits, and the good spirits of the unknown be in your good blessings. Blessed be.” Nick’s eyes popped open as she stepped away, stumbling over to her pack to pull out a bag of beef jerky and tiny cloth bag.

“Now, you can choose between a bath or a shower, just make sure this bag is under the flow of the water. If you have music to relax to, great. If not, that’s great, as well, it won’t affect anything. This is just to help you relax further and get rid of any lingering unwanted energy.” She tossed the bag to him as she went around and gathered the candles to put in the bathroom, nibbling on a piece of jerky. 

“That’s it?” He asked, turning the tiny bag in his hands, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. Nick thought there’d be more to this.

“Well, once you’re in there, you have to imagine all the bad energy leaving your body and going down the drain with the water. Take as long as you need, general time is half an hour, but you can go longer. Once you’re done, no working, no nothing. You go from the shower and right to bed.” 

“Oh, c’mon!” He protested, thinking of all the footage they have to go through still to make next week’s episode. Siobhan stepped out of the bathroom with a stern look, her hands on her hips, and Nick automatically thought of his mother again. He huffed, agreeing with her terms, just to get rid of that look. 

He really needed to stop comparing Siobhan with his mom. It was freaking him out a bit.

“I’ll come wake you if you’re not up at a decent time,” She promised, slipping her shoes and jacket on once again, packing all her things and waved bye to him as she went out the door, off to Zak’s room next. Nick just shook his head and got ready to take a shower.

Siobhan took a breather just outside Zak’s room, doing a little meditation to find her center. It’s been a while since she worked on so many people in one sitting, her body wasn’t used to it, and she knew she needed to be her best right now. 

Feeling more like herself, she cracked open a can of Monster and ate a couple more pieces of beef jerky for extra measure. Standing up, she chugged half the can as she knocked on the door, praying that the energy kicked in in time. Zak didn’t even say hello when he opened the door, frantically motioning for her to hurry inside. She was about to ask him what was wrong but the second she stepped into his room, she felt the change of atmosphere. It was colder and had a slight ominous feeling to it.

“It’s been like this since I came in here,” Zak whispered to her, kind of crowding around her like she was his bodyguard, which technically, she was.

“It wasn’t like this earlier? When you guys came here after the airport?” Siobhan was scanning the room, looking for any odd shadows - there were a couple, hiding in the corner and they were giggling but that was it.

“No,” She hummed, moving into the room cautiously. As she moved, she could feel the energy changing in the room, growing less and less as she walked. The two shadows had gone from giggling manically to glaring at her, growling. She knew she didn’t have a lot of time to dilly-dally around on this one.

“Alright, Zak, sit on the foot of the bed. We got to jump right into this,” Pulling her pack off her shoulders, she grabbed her remaining candles and hurriedly lit them, whipping her jacket off as she stood in front of him. She didn’t have time to dim the lights or shut the curtains, she could feel the energy pressing against her, trying to drain her to regain it’s own powers back.

Calming herself down a bit, she instructed him to shut his eyes and focus on calming his breath, told him to take even, deep breaths and to listen to her voice. Placing her fingertips on his temples, she could feel the dark tentacles of the spirits licking at her skin, giving her a creepy feeling. Ignoring it, she jumped right into the incantation, starting off gentle and soothing, like always, before reaching into her powers. 

The longer she went on, the more the spirits tried to fight against her. She was practically shouting the prayer at this point, the white light spreading from her fingertips to her whole hand, and her hair was crackling with energy. With a finally burst of power, the spirits left and the atmosphere of the room lifted a great deal.

Exhausted, Siobhan tiredly traced the Wiccan symbol on Zak’s forehead, while muttering, “May my spirits, your spirits, and the good spirits of the unknown be in your good blessings. Blessed be.” 

Zak opened his eyes just in time to see Siobhan fall face first on to the empty spot next to him on the bed, groaning loudly, “You okay?” He had to ask, feeling bad that whatever was attached to him had drained her so badly.

“Don’t make me ever do that again,” Her words were muffled from the comforter but he got the gist of what she said. He frowned, patting her on the back gently, not knowing what to do in this type of situation. 

“I’m sorry?” He tried, knowing it probably wouldn’t help anything, but he had to try. Siobhan snorted, hoisting herself up onto her elbows so she could talk to him.

“I meant, don’t let me bless that many people in one sitting again in the near future. My body’s not used to it anymore,” She grimacing as she tried to get up, moving her back in such a way that Zak was sure wasn’t possible and cringed at the loud crack that came from it. Judging by the satisfied noise she made and how easily she got up after that, he was pretty sure she wasn’t human. Since he was busy staring at her in horror, he didn’t see the tiny bag come flying at his face until it was too late.

“Make sure that’s under the flow of the water, otherwise it’s useless. Take as long as you need, general time is half an hour, but you can go longer. Use the time to relax everything, your muscles, your energy, your mind. Imagine all the bad things leave your body with the water and down the drain. If you have music, great, if not, that’s fine. 

“After you’re done, no work, no Twitter, no nothing. You go straight to bed.” She rattled off as she went around, inspecting the room and feeling for any bad energy left behind. Once she was satisfied, she moved the candles to the bathroom and made sure Zak understood everything she said, having him repeat some of it to be positive. 

“Herbal shower, half an hour, straight to bed,” He repeated, watching as she put her jacket back on, catching a glimpse of something on her forearm. Tilting his head, he tried to think back to when she took her jacket off, to see if he caught anything then but everything was just a blur, it all happened so fast.

“Correct. I’ll come wake you if you’re not up at a decent time, okay? We got a big day ahead of us tomorrow, you need to sleep.” She advised, waving goodbye to him as she left. He was a split second too late in waving back but it didn’t matter, he had a feeling she knew. He took a moment to take a personal inventory of how he felt and was surprised to see how light he felt, he had no ill-feelings or negative thoughts that popped up in the last few months. Zak wondered what it was she traced on his forehead but that was something to ask later. 

Right now, he was looking forward to an herbal bath. 

Siobhan was dead beat by the time she made it downstairs to the manager’s office, a little bit past one in the morning, and she was in desperate need of either sleep or extremely strong coffee. She couldn’t even lift her hand to knock on the door, so she just banged her head against it softly, hoping Scott would still hear her and maybe, hopefully, let her crash on his couch for an hour or two.

Thankfully, Chief heard her and was barking at the door, pawing at it to try and open it for her. She had to smile at that, knowing she trained him well but it looks like her training with Scott needs some work - he still locks his door after ten. She heard him shush Chief as he got closer and had to move, otherwise when he opened the door, she’ll face-plant the floor and she really didn’t want a pair of black eyes for tomorrow.

Scott poked his head out and frowned at her appearance, looking like Death himself. Not saying anything, he grabbed her wrist gently and pulled her inside, guiding her to his couch slowly. 

“Why did you do it if you knew this would happen?” He asked her once she was settled on the couch with Chief resting on top of her. She tried to shrug but with the extra hundred pounds on her chest, it was difficult.

“Because they needed my help and I’m the one who called them here in the first place,” She tried to reason with him, knowing that he didn’t like it when she exceeded the use of her powers so suddenly. 

“That still doesn’t mean you had to help them,” He argued, pacing slightly in front of her. 

She sighed heavily, “Scott, no matter how much you argue, it’s done and over with, you can’t change it.” He looked at her, sadly, because he knew she was right. He sighed, moving to sit in his chair and slouched in it, staring up at the ceiling.

“You’re right and I hate it when you’re right,” He groaned, making her giggle a bit. “What time do you want me to wake you up?”

“Hmm...does four sound good?” Scott scoffed at her, picking his head up just to give her a look that let her know she was insane. She huffed, “Fine, whenever you feel like is a good time for me to recover. But I gotta be up before noon.” He relented with that and turned to his computer, continue his work while Siobhan dozed off, Chief already making sleepy grunts, Gunny fast asleep under Scott’s desk by his feet.


	4. Vandalizing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Siobhan treats the guys to breakfast and gets some unfortunate news.

When Scott said he’d wake her up, he really meant he’d have her dogs wake her up, licking her face and whining loudly. Groaning, she pushed herself up onto her elbow to stare bleary-eyed at them, wondering what time it was. At home, they had a little passage way to go outside from the laundry room if they need to, so they never really needed to ask Siobhan to let them out. Digging her phone out of her pocket, she turned it on to see it was 6:30 in the morning. 

Whining a little herself, she forced herself up and out of Scott’s office, Gunny dragging her along to catch up with Chief. It was a brisk morning but the sun was just barely up and there weren’t any clouds yet, so she hoped it’d warm up later in the day. After they did their business, she brought them with her to the lobby cafe, in desperate need of caffeine. As it was still early for anyone to be up, she wasn’t expecting anyone to be there, yet it still didn’t surprise her when she found Aaron sitting at one of the tables, playing with his phone, a cup of coffee and a couple muffins in front of him.

“I was hoping you’d sleep more,” She chuckled when he jumped and looked up from his phone, a wide grin spreading across his face when Chief ran up to him.

“Same here, I still feel a little tired but I just couldn’t sleep anymore,” He explained, bending down to cuddle with the big dog. Siobhan just smiled at the scene, a pleasant warmth growing in her chest to see him happy, while knowing the despair in his future. Shaking her head slightly, she forced those thoughts away, now is not the time to get emotional over something that might not even happen.

“Hey, can you watch them while I go get some coffee?” She asked, clearing her throat when it cracked mid-sentence. He nodded, reaching for Gunny’s leash, brushing off her thanks as she left. Walking off, she tried to shake off any of those lingering thoughts away, having to focus on the task today and worry about future things another time. Pouring her coffee, however, she felt a presence behind her, one she was all too familiar with.

“Nan, what are you doing here?” Siobhan asked, exasperated by her Nan’s antics.

“I came to see who you were exceeding your powers for and now I understand,” She could tell by the smile in her Nan’s voice that she didn’t understand anything. “You know, you two would be cute together.” 

“Who?” 

“That man playing with your pooches,” She almost dropped the sugar canister, wanting so badly to curse her Nan out in Gaelic but there were security cameras and not everyone believed in her gift. If she just randomly started shouting at air, in a different language, it’ll only further advocate people’s believes that she was a nutter.

“Nan, he’s married, stop it,” 

“I’m not the one who’s thirty-two and still single,” She gritted her teeth at the hiss in her ear.

“No, you’re dead and being an annoyance to me,” Siobhan hissed back, forgoing the sugar altogether to get away from her Nan, even though she couldn’t really stop her from following her. Stalking back to Aaron’s table, she steadily ignored the pressure on her back and plopped into the chair across from Aaron with a huff.

“Whoa, what crawled up your butt and died?” He could tell that she was annoyed by something but didn’t know exactly what yet, so he tried to go for humor, hoping to bring a smile out of her like a few minutes ago.

“My nan,” She growled, taking a healthy gulp of her black coffee and tried to remain oblivious to the numbness growing in her shoulder. Aaron gave her a confused look and scanned the lobby, not really seeing anyone besides them and Scott, who had just walked in with his mug.

“You won’t see her,” He turned back to see Siobhan give the space next to her left an annoyed grimace. “She’s dead.” 

“Oh.” Well, he wasn’t expecting that. The way she was talking about her Nan yesterday, made him think that she was still living. 

“Anyways, Billy’s plane lands in a few hours and then we’re off to my house,” Aaron nodded, sipping his coffee and the two fell into a comfortable silence. That was until he pulled out his cam recorder and held it up, filming his face. 

“Aaron’s vlog!” She was trying so hard not to laugh and had to hide her face with her coffee mug. “I’m here with my good buddy Siobhan!”

“No, Aaron,” She half-groaned, half-laughed at him, knowing that he was pointing the camera her way now.

“Apparently, Siobhan’s a grouch in the morning. Anyways! We’re in good ‘ol Wisconsin and we’re gonna go hunt some ghosts and maybe some cheese,” Siobhan couldn’t hold it anymore and busted out laughing, dropping her head to the table and covering herself with her arms.

“Jeez, Aaron, don’t kill her before we can do our lockdown,” She peaked out from under her arms to see Nick walk in, grinning at them.

“Hey, not my fault she thinks I’m hilarious,” Aaron gave Nick a smug look and a shrug, to which Nick just punched him in the shoulder as he brushed past, towards the coffee machine.

“See? What did I tell you? Perfect couple, you two,” Siobhan huffed angrily, glaring at the spot where she knew her Nan was.

“Nan, enough. Why don’t you go bug Selene or, oh I don’t know, go home?!” Aaron looked at her, concerned, when she started whispering harshly and found her staring at her left shoulder.

“Your brother was annoying me,” She pinched the bridge of her nose, breathing harshly. She couldn’t deal with her right now.

“Nan, please, just go. Home,” Sending a small amount of banishing spell, she finally felt her Nan’s presence leave and her shoulder was left with little tingles, like Siobhan had just slept on it wrong.

“You okay? Is she gone?” Aaron asked her quietly, sending Nick a grin as he started walking over. She gave him a small nod, draining the last of her coffee, and got up right as Nick sat down next to her. Snorting at his offending noise, she pointed to her empty cup and left to get more.

“How’d you feel this morning?” Nick asked, sipping his coffee carefully.

“Tired, for the most part, but extremely light. I feel like I did before we started this whole thing, ya know?” Aaron struggled to find the right explanation for how he felt, tearing apart his muffin as he talked, eating some of it while also playing with most of it.

Nick nodded, “I know what you mean, man, it’s not something you can put into words but it feels amazing,” He chuckled, taking another drink, his gaze flickering over to Siobhan at the coffee machine. He still wasn’t sure what it was about her but she was amazing and couldn’t be real - couldn’t be human, at least. 

A nudge on his calf almost had Nick jumping out of his skin but when he looked under the table, a bright-eyed and grinning Gunny was staring at him with Chief laying across Aaron’s feet. Chuckling, Nick pulled the pup out from under the table and set him in his lap, rubbing the pup’s head as he licked his face. 

“Hi, there,” He chuckled, pushing the pup’s face away from his to take a look at him better. “Did Chevy say what kind of breed he was?” He asked Aaron, who just shook his head. Neither of them noticed Siobhan standing just a few feet from them, watching the scene with a giant grin.

“He’s a Red wolf and German Shepherd mix,” She announced, laughing when they jumped at her voice and moved to reclaim her seat. “And ‘Chevy’? Really, Nick?” 

He shrugged, “It’s easier than saying your whole name and you drive a Chevy.” She thought about it for a moment before shrugging and nodding - he made a good point. Taking a glance at her watch, she saw it was almost eight o’clock. Billy’s plane lands at noon and Zak still wasn’t up. Biting her lip, she asked the guys what they should do.

“I say we go get food. Zak will still be out for a couple more hours, we can always bring him something back. Besides, you said you’d bring us somewhere with actual food and we’re gonna hold you to that,” Nick grinned at her, cuddling her dog close when she went to punch him in the shoulder. 

“I meant for lunch! Pretty sure you guys don’t want to get burgers for breakfast. We’ll go to IHop or Denny’s, y’all can choose on the way.”

She got up and dug her keys out of her pocket while the guys bickered over where to eat, both of them with a dog following them. Siobhan just snorted and shook her head, waving to Scott at the front desk before stepping out into the warm air, taking a moment to relish the sun on her face. 

“Woah, I didn’t know your hair was red!” She turned to look over her shoulder at Aaron, who was staring in amazement at the natural red highlights and undertones in her hair when the sun hit it.

“Yeah, part Irish, man. Mahogany hair isn’t just one color, ya know,” She teased, grinning when he made a face at her. Unlocking her truck, she made the guys sit in the back with the dogs, since they were so attached to the guys already. She knew there would be heartbreak all around when the guys left to go back to Vegas. 

On the road, the guys resumed their bickering and basically ignored Siobhan when she tried to get an answer out of them. Growling slightly, she took a hard right and pulled into a George Webb’s, parking in the first empty spot she could find. Shutting the engine off, she noticed the guys staring at her through the rear view mirror and turned around in her seat to look at them better.

“What? Y’all were taking too long, bickering like an old married couple, jeez,” She quipped, rolling her eyes as she opened her door and hopped out, telling the guys to leave the dogs in the truck for now.

“I thought we were eating here?” Nick asked, looking back at Gunny, who had his nose pressed to the window, his tail wagging away.

“We’re getting food here but we’re eating at the park, so they have a place to burn off some energy,” They both shrugged and nodded, agreeing with her as they went inside the cozy restaurant. Siobhan strolled up to the cash register, telling the lady they were getting it to go and placed her order of pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns. Looking over her shoulder, she had to bite her lip to stifle a snort when she saw the guys hesitating at the door, not really knowing what to do. She motioned them over and told them to place their order, nodding her head towards the menu behind the counter. 

Siobhan handed the lady her debt card once everything was done, ignoring the guys’ protest at her buying their food, just sending them a bright smile and lead them over to a booth to wait. 

“Hmm, there’s a coffee place on the way to the park, I can pop in there real quick and get some,” She suggested, smiling when they perked up at the thought of good coffee. It didn’t take long for her name to be called and they each walked out with a warm container.

“So, are we walking or driving?” Aaron asked, opening his container a smidge to snag a strip of bacon from his pancakes and hashbrowns.

“Walking, it’s only a couple blocks and it’s a nice day,” She set her container on the hood of the truck and opened the back passenger doors, stepping back to let her dogs jump down, her hand darting out to grab Gunny’s leash before he could run off. Walking over to Nick, she handed him Gunny’s leash with a teasing smile, which only widen when he rolled his eyes and took it but she could see the excited gleam in his eyes. She didn’t even have to tell Chief to follow Aaron, the big dog already pacing at the man’s feet with his tail wagging and tongue lolling out of his mouth, his nose picking up on the fact that Aaron had bacon.

“If I see y’all feeding my dogs, I’m sticking you in the room with the evil spirit,” She meant to be serious but from the way they were grinning at her, they knew she was just joking. Not even a day and they already knew she spoils her dogs. Siobhan just shrugged it off, knowing they were right and even if they did feed the pups scraps, it wouldn’t be the first time. She was just trying to save them all heartache.

Once they reached the coffee shop, she handed her container to Nick and motioned for them to keep going, darting into the shop before they could say anything. Not that they were going to, as she probably knew their orders better than they did, but Nick was going to protest about her buying everything. 

Aaron saw his face and just shook his head, “Let’s keeping going, man, the park’s right there,” 

Nick sighed but relented and followed Aaron, crossing the empty street and letting the dogs loose, looping Gunny’s leash around his belt loop so he didn’t lose it. Finding an available bench under a tree, they relaxed and dug into their food, Nick setting Siobhan’s next to him, nudging the dogs away when they tried to nose their way into it.

“Where do you think we’re going for these investigations?” He asked, tearing apart a strip of his bacon and tossed it to Chief, shoving the other bit into his mouth.

Aaron shrugged, “Who knows, man, but they gotta be pretty good locations if she’s taking us there,” 

“They are!” Both of them jumped when Siobhan sneaked up on them again, looking at her with wide eyes as she walked around the bench, a to-go drink tray in hand and a large grin on her face. 

“You have got to stop doing that,” Nick grumbled, reaching for his coffee when she held one out to him, placing it between his thighs as he ignored her delighted giggle.

“Aw, c’mon, don’t be such a spoiled sport,” She teased, giving Aaron his coffee before grabbing hers and setting the tray down by their feet to throw away later. 

“You gonna tell us the history behind these places or are we waiting ‘til later?” Aaron asked, keeping that topic going as he was curious and wanted to know more. Siobhan shrugged, flipping open her container as she sat next to Nick and shoved a whole strip of bacon in her mouth.

“Well, there’s the Brumder Mansion,” She spoke in between chews, her hand in front of her mouth to be a little more polite. “Which is a bed and breakfast now, and there’s so much history on that place, it’ll take forever. But I’ll give you a brief SparksNotes version - family mansion gets turned into a night club and speakeasy, lots of death and prostitution, gambling, more death - and murders, of course. Then it’s a housing for college students, a recreational center for youths and kids of the church, before finally becoming the bed and breakfast it is today in 1996.” 

“Jesus,” Nick breathed, sharing a look with Aaron - that house has got to have a lot of bad energy. 

But Siobhan was just getting started.

“Of course, the Lakeshore Apartments got nothing on the Brumder Mansion - and that’s where we’re going today,” She shoveled in a forkful of scrambled eyes but from the way her eyes were sparkling, they knew she was smiling at them.

“Oh god,” Aaron moaned, dropping his head and rubbing his forehead a bit. If the short version of the Brumder Mansion was bad, they didn’t want to know what had happened in the apartment complex. 

“Except, the bar I picked out for after the apartments, the owner called me while I was at the coffee shop. He had to postpone the investigation, last minute family emergency, had to go up North and he doesn’t know when he’ll be back,” She frowned, playing with her hashbrowns for a bit. “I told him it was fine and not to worry about it,”

Nick could tell she was upset about it, whether it be she was worried about the owner or because the investigation got postponed, he wasn’t sure but he rubbed her shoulder in reassurance all the same.

She turned to smile at him and, almost as if she read his thoughts, said, “I’m worried for him, he’s an older gentleman and so sweet, I just hope he can pull through whatever is happening up there,” 

“It’ll be okay,” Aaron threw in, “Just means we have a reason to come back here!” They all shared a laugh at that and finished eating in silence, the guys occasionally throwing a piece of bacon for the dogs while Siobhan rolled her eyes at them. 

Scooping the last of her eggs into her mouth, she glanced at her watch and almost choked, “Guys, it’s almost ten o’clock, we gotta get going,” Picking up the drink tray at her feet, she shoved it in her empty styrofoam container and stood up, chugging the last big gulps of her coffee. The guys stuffed the last bits of food into their mouths while Siobhan looked around for a trashcan. Seeing one a few feet away, she motioned for the guys to give her their containers to throw away; as she jogged away, Nick whistled for Gunny and the pup ran towards him, jumping in his lap with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth and smiling. 

Chuckling, he latched the pup’s leash on his and patted the side of his chest, setting him back down on the ground. Chief followed at his own leisure pace, his tail wagging furiously when he got closer to Aaron, making the guys chuckle as they speed walked to catch up with Siobhan. 

When they were a few feet from her truck, her phone started ringing; cursing loudly, she unlocked the truck and gestured for them to hop in while she went inside the diner to get Zak’s food, already speaking to the person who called her in fast Gaelic. Aaron and Nick stared after her before turning to each other, raising their eyebrows in disbelief.

“Remind me to not make her angry,” Nick snorted at Aaron, patting him on the shoulder as he passed to open the door and let the dogs jump inside, deciding to stay outside with Aaron to wait for her. 

“Selene, why are you calling me?” She asked, moving the phone away to order Zak’s food quickly and stood off to the side.

“I closed the bakery today, like you asked, and went to your house to get things together for you, only to find your gate open and your house vandalized. I had to call the police.” Her cousin whispered, sounding very sorry for Siobhan. Selene was standing outside, by the horses, looking at the house with despair. The lovely Victorian styled house had multiple windows broken, the front door was hanging off the hinges, graffiti all over the exterior and she knew her cousin will throw a fit about that the most. 

This wasn’t the first time someone had vandalized her home, and they both knew it wasn’t going to be the last, but after a while, it gets tiresome and expensive. 

Siobhan sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose, “How are the horses?” She had to know if her animals were okay, she didn’t really care about the damage to her home right now but she’d tear people’s heads off if they hurt any of her horses.

“They’re fine, a little spooked but none were hurt,” She breathed a little easier at Selene’s reassurance, stepping up to pay for her order and left with the hot container, handing it off to Nick and hopped in her truck, the guys following behind her.

“Okay, just stay there, I’ll be there in a little bit. Was the inside of the house touched at all?” Siobhan started the truck and didn’t even wait to make sure everyone was buckled, gunning it out of the parking lot and onto the road, ignoring the looks the guys were giving her.

“Insides fine, Nan and Jackson made sure they didn’t set foot in the house,” 

“Good, sit tight, be there soon.” Siobhan ended the call and rubbed her forehead, cursing under her breath as she tried to figure out how to fix her house - again, for the third time in two months. She didn’t care about the cost, she had enough money to cover all of it, but the guys at the hardware store are starting to get annoyed, having to drive out to the boonies to replace a few windows every couple months is not in their job description. She didn’t blame them, really, she’d be annoyed herself if she had to drive ten miles out of their way to fix a window that was just fixed last month.

“Chevy!” She startled, almost jerking the truck into the wrong lane before she caught herself, and glared at Nick in her rearview mirror.

“What?! Christ, almost made me crash,” She muttered in various languages, checking her blind spots before pulling off in her Exit ramp and anxiously tapped her fingers against the steering wheel.

“What was the phone call about? You’ve been zoning out since you came out of the diner,” 

She bit her lip, debating if she should tell them now or wait until everyone was at her house.

“Selene called, my cousin,” She stated, pulling into the hotel’s parking lot and noticed Zak was standing outside with Scott, obviously waiting for them to return. Turning the engine off, she just sat in her seat, staring out the windshield as her thoughts turned over and over in her mind. “She went there to get everything organized for our walk-through today and found my gate open. Someone, or a group of people, they’re not sure yet...trespassed on my property and vandalized my house.” 

It was silent in the cab for a total of five seconds before the guys exploded.

“What?!” 

“Are you fucking kidding me? Who the fuck does that?” Siobhan had to smile at Nick’s words, glad that other people besides her and Selene felt upset about it. She was sure there were a few people in town who shared her feelings, as well, they just didn’t want to voice them.

“This is the third time in almost two months and it was going so well. Last year, I had to call the cops around five hundred times because someone had come onto my property and vandalized something. So far, I only had to call twenty times this year. Common sense is becoming a trend these days,” She mused, opening her door and hopped out, leaving the keys in the ignition since they were leaving soon. Aaron and Nick scrambled out of the truck after her, both with expressions of incredulous disbelief. 

“That’s it? That’s all you have to say about this, about someone defacing your home?!” Nick yelled after her, picking up his pace to catch up to her. She spun around to face him and threw her arms up, laughing a bit.

“What else can I do, Nick? I don’t know who did it, I have no proof! Besides, even if I did know who did it, who do you think will the court side with? Teenagers, who don’t know jack squat about what they’re doing, or the resident psychic that everyone thinks is just a crazy lady who should be thrown in a mental institution?!” Everyone stared at her as she finished ranting, her chest heaving and her face flushed, hands clenched into fists at her sides. What really made them speechless, was the fact that her eyes were glowing an eerie amber and the air around her crackled with energy. 

“Okay,” Scott spoke up, calming stepping between them with his hands raised and his voice low. “Everyone just calm down and explain what happened,” He stared at Nick to make sure he was good before turning to Siobhan, placing his hands on her shoulders, ignoring the slight shock it gave him, and made her look him in the eyes. After a while, she was calm enough to explain what happened and all four of them furious, Scott more on the sympathetic side since he knew what she has to go through.

“Why aren’t the cops doing anything about it?” Zak asked, stepping a bit closer to the small group. Siobhan snorted, giving him a look that made him feel stupid, even though he knew he shouldn’t be.

“They don’t care and even if they did, they don’t know how many of them it could be. It’s a big city, it could be anyone, they don’t have the time or the resources to just find a couple vandalizers for a psycho. Now, can we go? We wasted enough time as it is and Selene’s waiting for me,” She gave Scott a kiss on the cheek and small smile as she sidestepped him, shoving her hands deep in her pants pockets as she walked back to her truck, the wind blowing her hair behind her and giving her a slight chill.

“C’mon, we gotta run inside and get our cameras. Plus, we still gotta pick up Bill from the airport,” Zak muttered, watching her walk off for a bit before turning and jogging back inside the hotel. Aaron followed but Nick lingered a bit, staring at Siobhan climbing in her truck and leaned against the door, looking absolutely drained, when just ten minutes ago she was practically glowing with joy.

“Go,” He turned to Scott, who jerked his head towards the hotel doors. “I’ll stay, make sure she’s okay, go get your things or she’ll really tear you a new one for making her wait.” They both chuckled at that and Nick left, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder as a thank you.

Scott watched him leave before sighing heavily, turning back around to look at Siobhan, “What have you gotten yourself into this time, Ryan?”

“You know she’s playing fire with fire, right?” 

Scott closed his eyes and groaned, “Yes, Cathleen, who do you think I am?”

“I’m just saying, you have to keep a closer eye on her. Things are going to get dangerous for her.”

“Why can’t you do it? You’re already dead and you’re her Nan, it makes more sense for you to watch over her.” He argued, taking a quick peek around to make sure he was still alone. Well, to make sure no one living was around him.

“Just because I’m dead doesn’t mean I have access to the places she’ll be going. However, you do.” He could hear the smugness in her voice and it made his teeth clench.

“If she knew you were making me do this, she’d be furious.” It was a weak excuse, they both knew this, but he really didn’t want to be on the receiving end of Siobhan’s curses.

“She’s always angry at me for something, it’s nothing new. Now, I must go, she’ll be expecting me to be home when she gets there.” 

“Wait-” He got cut off by a blast of cold air hitting him in the face and he knew that she was gone. Sighing in frustration, he punched his thigh a few good times before rubbing his eyes. When he agreed to Cathleen’s terms and conditions of being Siobhan’s guardian, he thought he’d be teaching her the ways of witchcraft and the Marshall family practice, not frolicking all over the country to make sure she doesn’t get herself killed.


	5. Black Mass

Siobhan had sat in her truck for a total of five minutes before she got restless. Bouncing her knee, she tapped her fingers against the steering wheel and glanced at the hotel doors periodically. She wanted to get going, wanted to go home and see the damage that needs to be fixed.

She was so lost in her thoughts, that she nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt two wet noses against her cheek. Turning slightly, she grinned at her puppies and ruffled their ears, their wagging tails making loud thumps against the seat.

"I'm sorry, boys, momma's got a lot on her mind," Siobhan murmured, smiling softly, scratching them behind their ears before turning her attention back to the entrance of the hotel. She noticed Scott was still standing by the doors but looked visibly agitated and - was he talking to himself? Her eyebrows furrowed in concern for her friend and moved to get out of the truck, only for the guys to exit the hotel, each carrying a heavy case and backpacks.

She gave an angry huff when Scott bid them a goodbye and went back inside the hotel, not even giving her a backwards glance.

'Some friend,' she thought, bitterly.

Grunting, she got herself re-situated in her seat again, gently pushing her dogs to sit in the backseat, before starting the truck while the guys tossed their things in the van. Noticing that Nick was coming up on her side, she rolled down the window to see what he wanted.

"Billy just texted Zak, saying his plane landed early, so we're heading there to pick him up. If you want to go ahead and get home, leave us some directions so we don't get lost," He informed her, resting his forearms on the frame of the window. Siobhan bit her lip, looking away from Nick to sort through her thoughts. She did want to get home to see the damage, make sure everything was absolutely alright. But she also knew, that even with her extensive and detailed directions, they'd still get lost because her driveway's hard to see and they'd easily pass it up. Hell, she missed her own driveway numerous times, both during the day and night.

"Nah, it's alright, y'all will still get lost," She teased, sticking her tongue out at him when he made a face at her. "We'll get Billy and head to my place. It's a bit far, at least an hour and a half if the traffic isn't bad. We can stop at a gas station halfway to get some snacks and stretch. Sound good?"

"Yeah, sounds good. I'll let the guys know the plan. We'll follow you," Nick patted her door as he pushed himself away and headed back to the van.

"I would hope so!" She laughed loudly when she just got a middle finger in response. Buckling herself in, she grabbed her CD case and pulled out a random CD, shoving it in her stereo while checking her mirrors. Hearing the familiar guitar tunes of Evanescence, a big grin lit up on her face.

It was going to be a good drive.

Turning the volume up, she checked to see if the guys were ready before putting the shifter into drive and pulling out of her spot, head bobbing to her music.

For once, Siobhan was glad the airport was so close to the hotel as she pulled into the same pick-up lot as yesterday, Billy standing off to the side of the exit doors, a backpack hanging off one shoulder while a rolling suitcase sat beside him. Zak must've told him to wait outside for a more smooth trip.

She didn't even bother finding a parking spot, just pulled into the pick-up zone and grinned at the man through her passenger window. He just grinned back while Aaron jumped out to help load the van.

In the span of, maybe, five minutes, they had Billy situated and on the road again.

Once on the highway, Siobhan might've went over the speed limit, just a bit. In her defense, it was a nice day - the sun was high in the sky and it had gotten pleasantly warm, so she was going to let loose a bit. Besides, her dogs were loving the wind they were getting from the open windows.

She was so caught up in her driving, that she forgot all about the guys following behind her, until they caught up to at a red light and honked obnoxiously. Sneaking a glance at her rear view mirror, she chuckled when she saw Nick glaring at her truck. She'll say sorry when they stop at the gas station that was coming up.

Flicking her blinker on to go right, she double checked to make sure they were doing the same. The gas station wasn't that far and they were pulling into the lot before she knew it. Seeing as she was still good on gas, she parked in one of the spaces in front the building, the guys parking right next to her.

Siobhan was about to hop out when Nick popped out of nowhere and blocked her door, glaring at her, "What the fuck was that on the highway?"

"I'm sorry," She whispered, cringing a bit. "I get excited when I'm driving, sometimes. When we get to my place, you'll understand, but I am sorry. Nice weather does that." It was a lame excuse but it was true.

Nick sighed heavily before stepping away from her door, allowing her to open it a smidgen and hop out as he headed inside. Motioning to her pups to stay and locking her truck, she jogged a little bit to catch up with the guys. Siobhan grimaced when she noticed who was working the cash register - fucking Ben Porter, the guy who wouldn't take no for an answer.

"What's with the look?" Zak asked her, giving her a weird look when she jumped a bit. She had been distracted from seeing Ben again after five years, that she hadn't noticed the guys forming around her with concerned expressions.

"Sorry, it's just that guy," she motioned to the attendee at the counter with a sneer. "Fucking bastard, hope his dick catches on fire." Muttering under her breath, she headed to the back where the refrigerators were, grabbing a couple Monsters and a bag of jerky on her way to the front.

She let the guys go first, dying to see his reaction when he sees her again. She hopes he shits his pants in fear.

Once Aaron stepped away with his coffee, she had the pleasure of watching Ben's face drain of blood, making his already pasty skin look translucent. Smirking wickedly at him, she placed her items on the counter. She was fully aware of the guys this time and hoped that whatever happened, it wouldn't change their opinion on her.

"Howdy, Ben, long time, no see," Siobhan greeted, her words friendly but her face was deadly. Watching him try to get his 'tough guy' act together, while simultaneously looking like he was going to be sick and calling the cops on her, made Siobhan want to bust out laughing.

"Marshall. Didn't know you were still around. Still a whore, I see." His eyes flickered over to the guys, not registering their furious expressions, before focusing back on Siobhan. Ben swallowed nervously when he saw her amber eyes practically glow with fury.

"I see you're still being a cunt. Let's hope you didn't catch anything from your latest 'girlfriend'. Was it Tony? Oh, or maybe it was Jessica, I heard she always liked you. Better check yourself before you spread anything else, Porter." She sneered, angrily fishing a ten out of her wallet and tossed it on the counter, not even waiting for the change or the guys, as she snatched her drinks and bolted for the door.

"Chevy, wait up!" She heard Nick call out but really, all she wanted to do was go home and get ready. If she had just know that he was still working here, she would’ve picked a different gas station or some place else to stop. Just as she reached out to unlock her truck, a hand came down on her shoulder and her mind went blank, instincts rearing its ugly head after being dormant for so long.

Dropping everything, she grabbed the offending hand and twisted their arm, shoving the person roughly against her truck, her other arm coming up to brace her forearm against their shoulders. She wasn't thinking, obviously not caring what she was doing to the other person. In her mind, she was just protecting herself.

Nick had noticed the change in her body language when Zak grabbed her and before he could warn him, she had taken him down in less than a minute. Sighing, he handed Aaron his drink and pried Siobhan off Zak, dodging a few punches she tried to aim at his head.

Once she was standing by herself, he saw how distant and glazed over her eyes were. If he wasn't sure before that something traumatic happened to her, he was sure as hell now.

"Siobhan, c'mon, snap put of it," he spoke harshly, getting in her face and snapping his fingers. When she didn't respond to that, only continued to breathe heavily, he sighed deeply and slapped her, the sound making him - as well as the others - cringe.

It seemed to work, however, as her eyes blinked back into focus. Siobhan was confused as to why everyone was staring at her, why Nick and Billy were looking at her with such sad and regretful eyes, even though she didn't know what they were regretful for. Zak was apprehensive, watching her warily, while Aaron was just concerned.

"Chevy?" She jumped and refocused on Nick, his hands coming up to show that he wasn't a threat, taking note that she was still on edge just a bit. "Easy, it's okay, we just want to know what happened."

Siobhan tilted her head, brows furrowing in confusion. He motioned to Zak, who was absentmindedly rubbing his arm, trying to soothe his ego more than the rough abuse of his arm. Recalling how Zak was watching her, she connected the dots and, with increasing horror, she stared at him as tears pooled in her eyes. For years, she thought she was doing better; she never had a flashback or had something physical to bring an episode. Now, she had hurt someone she was beginning to consider a friend.

Would this compromise the investigations?

"I'm so sorry," Siobhan croaked, a couple tears slipping from her eye. Seeing Nick reach out to console her, she sidestepped him with a shake of her head. "That hasn't happened in a while, I thought it was better but I guess some instincts never go away completely," She spoke softly, making sure her eyes broadcasted her sorrow at what she did. Moving slowly to the passenger side of her truck, she unlocked the door and rummaged around in her glove box, wiping away a few stray tears as she grabbed her cigarettes. Leaving the door ajar, since her dogs were asleep in the back, she leaned against the front wheel well and lit a smoke, inhaling deeply to settle her nerves before she delved into the explanation the guys were waiting for.

Tossing the pack and lighter on the hood, she shrugged out of her jacket to reveal a black, racer back tank top, while also revealing a plethora of tattoos covering her arms and back. Of course, they caught the interest of the guys but she ignored them for now, mentally preparing herself.

Taking a deep drag, she held in the smoke and leaned on her forearms against her truck, the cigarette dangling from her lips, "I went to school with Ben. We weren't really friends but we shared a few classes together." As she spoke, wispy smoke was coming out of her mouth and nose. The guys didn't say anything, paying close attention to her, each of them taking notes of her stance and body language.

"I was graduating early and getting ready to leave for boot camp, everything was normal, everything was fine." She paused to rub her eyes roughly and Billy took advantage of it to ask a question.

"Sorry but did you say boot camp?" Her surprised giggle made all of them feel better and broke some of the tension.

"Yes, Marine Corps. Got honorably discharged a couple years ago with a Purple Heart. Another story for another time.

"Anyways, one day - Ben comes up to me, out of nowhere, a couple days before I was set to leave, and asked me to have sex with him. I said no - I didn't really know him, I wasn't attracted to him, I only thought of him as a somewhat friend. Of course, he got upset and started calling me all these names, was going on and on about how I was leading him on, that I wasn't owning up to it, or putting out." She paused again to take a drag and tried very hard to ignore the guys' growing fury, the tension was back from earlier but it had a different feel to it. She knew they weren't angry at her this time.

"When I came home from boot camp, he had spread so many rumors about me when I was gone, I was practically shunned from everyone besides my family. Then, of course, the news of my abilities came to light and now I'm just the resident Devil." She scoffed, taking one last deep drag of the cigarette before stomping it out.

The guys were silent as she moved around, flinging her jacket onto the passenger seat and shoving her smokes back in the glove box. She didn't see the looks the guys were giving each other, as she was walking around the back of the truck. But she caught the solid back of Mr. Bagans as he stomped to the glass doors, his body language radiating fury.

"Zak," Siobhan called out, shaking her head when he spun towards her. "Don't, he's not worth it. Besides, we wasted enough time here, we have to get going." She opened her door and hopped in, sighing deeply as she got situated.

Watching the guys pile into the van, she leaned out her window, "He doesn't need to be beaten up when he's already cursed with gonorrhea." The riot of laughter that came after gave her a warm feeling in her chest. Even if it was at the expense of someone else, she felt like they could move past what happened and welcome her in to be part of the crew.

"Oh! Siobhan!" Aaron jogged around the van to her side, carrying her drinks and jerky. "I picked these up, don't want to forget them now." She wanted to smack herself in the forehead for forgetting her snacks.

Smiling at him gratefully, she took the cans and the tiny bag of beef jerky, setting them on her jacket and turned to thank Aaron again. Only to find him back in the van, making a funny face at her.

Sticking her tongue out at him, she turned her truck on and left the lot, pulling back onto the road for another half hour of driving.

The rest of the drive felt incredibly shorter than usual. Maybe it was because she was excited to finally have people over to her house - and not just her cousin or the trespassers.

Either way, Siobhan was turning onto her hidden, dirt driveway before she knew it. She really should clear the entryway a bit more, she could hardly see the bright red mailbox she had put up to be a landmark. Before the mailbox, her driveway looked like any other abandoned dirt road and that's how she preferred it - until she started missing her turn more and more often.

Seeing her gate left open, as per her request from her cousin, she made a mental note to order Selene her favorite baking chocolate tomorrow. Even though they fought a lot over stupid shit, they knew when to be understanding and supportive for each other.

She had the gate installed about a month after her house was finished. It was roughly ten feet from the road, just enough to give people to turn around if they made a wrong turn, and made of stone bricks. It was all she could do at the time to keep unwanted visitors getting to close to her home but with the forest surrounding her property, there really wasn't much that she could do.

Yeah, she could put up fences and whatnot but she liked to be able to walk out her back door and into the woods without difficulties. However, if the vandalism keeps happening, she's gonna have to do something about it. Siobhan can't keep replacing and fixing the damages done to her home every other month, so it was either think up a design plan for an all-around fence or pack everything up and move.

Driving past the horse pastures, some of the tension in her body melted away when she saw they were empty. She knew that Selene didn't feel comfortable letting the horses out herself but Siobhan felt better knowing they were still safe in their stables.

The trees cleared away to a large opening, where her house stood proudly in the center. The horse barn was just on the edge of the forest, with the shed next to it. Her garage was in the back, housing her more ... delicate cars. That she was sure the guys were going to shit themselves over.

Her house was her pride and joy, though. Despite being built from the ground up by her and a few of her Marine buddies, it looked like it belonged in the mid-1800s to early 1900s. It had a mix of Victorian era and Civil War with the pillars making up what was her porch; most people would be confused at the architecture blend but to Siobhan, it felt right.

Slowing to a stop a few feet from her porch, she threw the gear shift into park and checked on her dogs, only to be welcomed with two, wet noses in her face.

Knowing they want out, she made haste of getting out before they could trample her. Laughing loudly as they started running around in circles - Chief chasing Gunny as the pup barked excitedly - she turned her attention to her defaced home.

A few windows were busted, the glass everywhere - she'd have to clean that, first thing. The last thing she wanted was a wounded doggy paw.

The cherry on top of the damage was the demeaning words and crude drawings that were spray painted on the siding. She sighed, annoyed - more with the fact that she'll have to head to the hardware store for paint, than the actual defacing of her home. Sure, it was aggravating that people - or rather, teenagers - still felt the need to trespass and wreck her property after five years.

She was still standing there when she heard the guys pull in behind her and park, the slamming of car doors prompted her cousin to step out of the house. Sensing the guys walk up to stand by her, she could practically see the waves of disgust rolling off them at the sight of her home.

"That's sick," Zak spat, staring at the graffiti. Among the slurs about her and her abilities, those crude drawings were of what, she assumed, were her being hung and/or burned at the stake. Much like the Salem Witch Trials. Honestly, she was impressed they could even draw that with spray paint.

Siobhan shrugged, "That's life. Let's head inside, y'all can film this if you want." Whistling for her dogs, she headed to the porch, nodding her head in greetings to Selene. While the guys went back to the van to get their cameras, she spoke with her cousin.

"How's everything?" Selene just stared at her with sad eyes. "Don't look at me like that, we've been through this before, this is nothing new. Speaking of which, why didn't you clean this up?" She motioned to the glass littering the porch, her pups leaning against her legs to avoid.

Selene waved off her question, making Siobhan roll her eyes, "It's still not right. You risk your life for this fucking country and in return, you get your house constantly vandalized. You get death threats for something you can't control. I still don't understand why you don't just move to Ireland." Selene ranted, her words slurring together in her anger. Siobhan sighed heavily, closing her eyes and rubbed her temples to ease some of the headache she could feel coming on.

"Selene, you know why I can't just up and move to Ireland," She argued back, having had this fight so many times, even though now it was beginning to look like a good idea. Maybe she'll fit in better in Ireland and her cousin could find some place else to live. When she had helped her cousin move out here to help start a business, she knew it wasn't going to be easy but good lord, they argued like they were actually siblings.

"I call bullshit, you're just making excuses,"

"I'm not having this conversation with you right now," Siobhan hissed, glaring at her when Selene opened her mouth to spit a retort, only to snap her mouth shut with a click and stomped back inside the house, the screen door slamming against the frame. She huffed, annoyed with her cousin's attitude, and turned around to see if the guys needed any help, only to find them standing at the bottom of the porch steps.

"Oh, so sorry, didn't realize you were there," She apologized, smiling sheepishly as she shoved her hands in her pants pockets.

"Don't worry about it, couldn't understand what you were saying anyways," Aaron reassured her, climbing the steps as he fiddled with his camera. Seeing her confused expression, he elaborated, "You weren't speaking English."

"Oh!" She breathed in realization. "Sorry, Selene only speaks Gaelic - she understands English but it's easier on her if I speak in Gaelic as well. I've been trying to get her to speak more English but na-da." She shrugged in indifference before motioning for the guys to follow her inside, the pups following her closely and took off into the house once they were in the clear. Siobhan took her hat off and flung it in the general direction of the living room.

The guys looked around the inside of her house in awe - it was an open floor plan, with a sunken living room and an L-shaped counter that separated the kitchen. In the far right corner, just a bit to the side of the kitchen, was what they assumed was Siobhan's office, as it was sectioned with two large desks that were cluttered with papers and a computer. A metal, spiral staircase was in between the kitchen and living room, leading up to a small-ish opening in the ceiling.

Toeing her shoes off, she spoke over her shoulder to the guys, "You can take your shoes off - or leave them, up to you, I don't mind either."

"Something is telling me to take my shoes off," Billy piped up, taking his shoes off behind Aaron. The other thing nodded in agreement, taking off their shoes in various ways.

Siobhan snorted, moving towards her office, "That'd be my mom, sorry, Asian tradition. You can ignore it," She plopped down in her chair and sighed, rummaging through her stacks of paper and random notebooks, not finding the one she needed.

"You left your notebook in your room," Jackson spoke, somewhere to her left.

"Thanks, Jack," She sent a smile in his general direction as she got up and jogged over to the stairs, throwing up a hand to tell the guys to stay down here and that she'll be back in a moment. Once on the second floor, she walked past Selene's room, noticing that she was propped up against her headboard with a book. As her room was at the end of the hall, she had the dog beds across from it and she had to smile when they were fast asleep.

Walking into her room, her smile widen when she saw Ebony lounging on her bed, completely stretched out and soaking up the little bit of sun streaming in from her window.

"How are you, Mr. Bunbun?" She cooed, climbing over him a bit to rub the little spot between his ears. She giggled when he stretched further and yawned, leaning into her hand for more pets. Bending down, she showered him in kisses before retreating, having to tear herself away from her adorable bunny, otherwise she'd get nothing done.

Snatching her notebook off her nightstand, she headed back out to the guys, only to find them still standing, rather awkwardly, in her living room. Rolling her eyes, she motioned for them to sit, tossing the notebook on her recliner as she pranced into the kitchen for a drink.

"Alright," Siobhan started, jogging back and jumped into her chair, making it rock dangerously before it settled. The guys spread themselves out on her unusually large couch while Aaron stood, getting the wide shot. She began leafing through the pages as she spoke, "Lakeshore Apartments. Built in the early 1900s for the wealthy, opened up to everyone in the late 50s. Since then, it just went down hill - drug deals, prostitution, murders. It went from an elegant building to one of the sketchiest part of town.

"It shut down in the 90s, after the owner died in a car accident and his family didn't want to keep running it. Matt McGoother bought it a few years ago to re-open it as a hotel but he's been having some problems, so he asked if I could look into it."

"Why did he ask you?" Zak asked, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

"Because he might've caught me trespassing one time." She admitted, shrugging carelessly as she found the page she was looking for. Nick snorted, biting the inside of his lips when Zak shot him a look.

"What sort of problems is he having?" Aaron asked, zooming in on Siobhan.

"Stuff like his construction workers tools going missing, being pushed off latters, not being able to continue working for some reason - they never gave a clear answer, just said they couldn't do it anymore. He bought the place a few years ago and it was suppose to open a couple months ago but nothing's been completed, it looks like a shithole inside."

"Any reported deaths?" Zak questioned, giving Aaron a look now, to which he just gave a shrug.

"Yup," She tossed him the notebook, leaning back with her water bottle. "Around 70 or so reported deaths, who knows how many more that went un-reported. A lot of them were natural deaths, bunch of old people dying in their sleep and whatnot. But the other twenty-odd deaths were murders, suicides, etc."

"Which makes for an un-rested soul." He murmured, reading over the list of deaths she gave him. It was very organized and not what he was expecting from her - he was expecting just a mess of clutter. However, she manages to surprise him yet again. It was basically a homemade Death Ledger with the person's name, cause of death, age - it even had what floor and room number they were found in.

"Exactly. However, some of them are residual. There's only a good handful of intelligent spirits."

"Why were you trespassing?" Nick asked, panning the camera over to her, cocking an eyebrow and smirking at her when she glared at him.

"I was visiting my old apartment, if you must know." She answered, raising her own eyebrows at him.

"Wait, you used to live here? When?!" Zak cut in, head shooting up at her words and moved to the edge of his seat. Siobhan's eyes widened a bit at his enthusiasm, pursing her lips to keep herself from laughing.

"With my friend, yes. When the last of my family died, I sold the house and enlisted in the Marines, so I had to have a permanent place of residence when I wasn't on leave. But anyways, enough about that," She waved her hand, sitting up and placing her water bottle on the coffee table. "There's three rooms with active spirits on the fourth floor, two on the sixth, one and a half on the eighth - only the bathroom is active, the room itself is fine - and four on the tenth."

"That's a lot." Billy commented, reading the list over Zak's shoulder.

"So, wait, if the owner asked you to look into it, why did you request us?" Zak furrowed his eyebrows, still trying to figure her out. If she could communicate with the spirits without the help of a recorder, why would she need them?

"Well, two things: I don't have the kind of equipment like you do - just because I can hear what spirits are saying, doesn't mean I can hear all of it - and there's something on the tenth floor that I can't get a reading on."

"What do you mean?"

Siobhan huffed, clearly aggravated with herself over it, "I mean, there's this giant mass of black just chilling out in one of the rooms. It has no thoughts, no energy at all but it makes you feel shitty. I've tried going in there but it does not want me in the room. I've had the feeling that someone was in the room with me and that they wanted to do harm to me. Yet, I didn't get the usual feeling of a spiritual manifest."

"Do you think it's demonic?" Nick panned over to Zak, zooming out to get all of him on screen, showing how tense he had gotten.

"No, if it was demonic, it would've been the first thing I'd get a read on when I step in the building. This is just a big, black mass of nothing and it tolerates people, to a point."

They all nodded, getting more into it and slipping into their zone - until Zak's phone rang and shattered the atmosphere as his face turned bright red.

"Excuse me," He muttered, tossing the notebook on the coffee table and stood up, slipping his phone out of his pocket and stepped outside to answer it. Siobhan relaxed into her chair again, bringing a leg up to hug it to her chest.

"Girlfriend?" She asked Nick, furrowing her eyebrows when she caught him filming her.

He snorted, "Probably - or it's his mom." She nodded, biting her lip to stop a bubble of laughter wanting to come out. Taking a glance at her watch, she choked and shot up from her chair, tripping over herself as she tried to get to the staircase.

"What's wrong?" Aaron called out, confused as to why she was acting like her chair was on fire.

"It's almost three, y'all got an interview at four! We gotta get going, head on out and get Zak, I'll be done in a minute." She shouted, climbing the stairs two at a time.

Panting a bit as she got to the second floor, she jogged over to Selene's door and popped her head in, glad to see her cousin in the same spot as before.

"Hey, I gotta head out, you going to be okay here? It'll be a few hours and I'll bring some Culver's home for dinner."

Her head shot up at the word 'Culver's' and Siobhan had to smile; she knew her cousin was homesick and wasn't accustomed to the American life yet but she had taken a liking to the burgers.

"My usual, please? And I'll be fine. Are you bringing the dogs?" Siobhan looked over her shoulder to see her pups still snoozing away, so she shook her head at Selene.

"Nah, they're sleeping and they'll be out for a good few hours. Tired themselves out at the park. Alright, I'm out. Oh! Could you please clean up the glass outside, though? Thank you!Later! " She patted the door frame she was leaning on as she left, hopping down the stairs. Heading to the fridge, she grabbed a few more water bottles and set them on the counter, going to the pantry to get a shopping bag and threw the bottles in there. Jumping down into the living room, she grabbed her own water bottle and the notebook before heading to the front door, her shoes the only ones left in the threshold.

Slipping them on, she jogged outside and down the steps, digging her keys out of her pocket while she went to the passenger side of her truck to get her jacket and drinks. Shoving them into the bag hanging from her shoulder, she motioned for the guys in the van to wait a second as she ran around the back.

A wide grin stretched across her face when her garage came into view, already knowing which car she was going to take. She did say she was going to show Nick why she was speeding on the highway, didn't she? Giggling to herself, she went inside and breathed a sigh of relief as her baby came into view. A solid black 1969 Dodge Charger R/T with red leather interior.

Sliding into the familiar smell of whiskey and cigars, she happily sank into the soft leather, jingling her keys until she found the right one and cranked the engine, basking in the glow of the loud growl. Reaching under her seat, she pulled out the shoe box of cassettes and popped in Metallica's Master of Puppets, nodding to herself once her car was filled with the music.

Raising a hand to the sun visor above her, she hit the garage button and shifted into gear as the door started opening, punching it before it was fully open, speeding a bit around her house and drifted to a stop beside the van.

"Let's go, guys!" She shouted, laughing at their slacked jaws and wide eyes, driving away before any of them could respond.

"What the fuck," Nick muttered, watching her tail lights getting further away in his rear view mirror.

"Dude," Aaron breathed, body twisted in his seat as he also watched.

"Who the fuck is this chick?!" Zak exploded, head snapping over to stare at Nick with a 'what the fuck' look.

"My new best friend, that's who. Did you see that car?!" Billy laughed, in the same position as Aaron.

Billy's question brought Nick out of his thoughts and he shot a glance at his mirror again, only to see the tail lights were gone. Swearing under his breath, he gunned the engine and tried to do a tight U-turn, nearly hitting a wheelbarrow of horse feed before righting the van. Ignoring the guys as they made noise at the sudden movement, Nick sped down the dirt driveway, silently praying that Siobhan wasn't that cruel and left them to find the place themselves.

Thankfully, she was at the end of the drive, sitting on her hood with her jacket on and a cigarette dangling from her lips. She pushed off her car once he was within shouting distance, "Y'all are slow!" which caused him to roll his eyes in exasperation. She only laughed and hopped back in her car, taking the same route they took to get here.

"I just hope we don't get pulled over trying to keep up with Speed Demon up there," Nick grunted, shifting in his seat to get comfortable for another long drive. The guys just laughed at him, each getting comfortable and doing their own thing.


End file.
